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There’s something about this overheated time of year that makes us shift gears and relish life.  Four years ago, I offered a list of things that mean summer, and with temperatures again steaming past 90, it’s time for another look at what makes summer… well, summer.

Indulge me in this list for 2023.

1.  Yellow school buses parked like a jigsaw puzzle at the school bus garage in Newton

2.  Unfolded lawn chairs

3.  Sand in your shoes

4.  A live “Elvis” singing at the Hickory Dairy Queen

5.  Pimiento cheese sandwiches

6.  Heat waves off hot asphalt

7.   Corn, cantaloupe and cucumbers at the farmer’s market

8.   Sno cones

9.  The crack of a bat striking a fast ball

10.  The hiss of lawn sprinklers

11.  Paper plates on a picnic table

12.  Drapes drawn in the afternoon

13.  The return of the dreaded tomato worm

14.  The smell of chlorine and sun screen 

15.   Arguing over the best route to Myrtle Beach

16.   Charcoal smoke

17.   Lightning bugs in a jar

18.  The whir of an ice cream freezer

19.  The ping of a sealed lid on a can of peaches

20.  Clattering katydids after dark

21.  The sun-drenched sound of beach music

22.   A carpet of dry pine needles

23.   Lying flat on the ground to spot satellites and falling stars

24.   Striped canvas awnings

25.   Chigger bites after picking blackberries

26.   Dull flashes of heat lightning

27.   Weeds

28.   The distant putter of a motorboat

29.   School supplies moved to the “seasonal” shelves

30.   Seersucker, straw hats and white shoes before Labor Day

---Tammy Wilson is a writer from Newton. Message her at [email protected]

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